10 Fun Facts about the Burj Khalifa

We’ve visited some of the world’s record setters like the world’s largest pumpkin festival, the world’s northernmost city and the world’s largest wine barrel. So it should be no surprise that standing on the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa was also on our bucket list. Not only is the Burj Khalifa the world’s tallest building, it impressively breaks several other records. Here are 10 fun facts about the Burj Khalifa we learned on our visit that we hope also inspire you to head to the top of the world’s tallest building. Just don’t forget to book your Burj Khalifa skip the line tickets before you go.

10 Fun Facts about the Burj Khalifa

The Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building

1. The Burj Khalifa height is a staggering 828 meters (2716.5 feet) tall, soaring over Dubai. It’s three times as tall as the Eiffel Tower and nearly twice as tall as the Empire State Building. Laid end to end, its pieces stretch over a quarter of the way around the world. It’s cloud-piercing height is certainly one of the most impressive facts about Bruj Khalifa.

Views of the Dubai Fountain from the top of the Burj Khalifa

2. Aside from holding the world record for being the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa holds six other world records. The Burj Khalifa is also the tallest freestanding structure in the world, has the highest number of stories in the world, has the highest occupied floor in the world, has the highest outdoor observation deck in the world, has the elevator with longest travel distance in the world, and has the tallest service elevator in the world.

Views of Dubai and stretching out over the Persian Gulf from the top of the Burj Khalifa

3. One of the most mind blowing Burj Khalifa facts is how much the materials weigh. To put things in to perspective, the weight of the concrete is equivalent to 100,000 elephants. The total weight of aluminum used on the Burj Khalifa is equivalent to that of five A380 aircraft.

The Dubai Fountain dances in front of the Burj Khalifa every 30 minutes from 6pm Wednesday through Sunday

4. Burj Khalifa fun facts that you can truly applaud are its sustainability and reuse of resources. Every year 15 million gallons of water are collected sustainably. The water is used for irrigation to water the landscaping and plants, for the cooling system and to supply the Dubai Fountain.

5. Some Burj Khalifa trivia about the elevators: the building has the longest single running elevator, which is 140 floors. The Burj Khalifa elevator speed is 10 meters per second, making the elevators among the fastest in the world. The Burj Khalifa elevator time to reach the observation deck on the 124th floor is only one minute.

Craning our necks to look up at the sphere from the ground level

6. One of the lesser known and more interesting facts about Burj Khalifa is that the tip of the sphere of the Burj Khalifa can be seen from up to 95 kilometers away.

7. Fairly known Burj Khalifa information is that at the peak of construction, 12,000 workers worked on the building per day.

8. Of course, you can’t leave out how the materials and man hours measure up when talking about interesting facts about the Burj Khalifa. It took more than 110,000 tons of concrete, 55,000 tons of steel rebar, and 22 million man-hours to complete the Burj Khalifa.

The Burj Khalifa still stretches up for many more stories from the observation deck on the 124th floor

9. Exactly how long did it take to build the Burj Khalifa? Excavation began in January 2004. Six years later, the Burj Khalifa finally opened in January 2010.

The spire is designed to resemble the Hymenocallis flower

10. Another of the Burj Khalifa interesting facts is that it is designed to resemble the Hymenocallis flower. The central core emerges at the top and culminates in a sculpted spire.

That’s a lot of facts about the world’s tallest building. What is the Burj Khalifa used for anyway? It’s actually a multi-use building that has restaurants, a hotel, residential apartments, office space and is a tourist attraction with its observation decks. Ready to visit?

Know Before You Go

TipsBooking

The observation deck is open from 10am to 10pm Sunday through Wednesday and 10am to midnight Thursday through Saturday. The last entry is 45 minutes prior to closing.

There is a free bag check near the entrance; just don’t forget to pick up your bags on the way out (thankfully I remembered before we got too far away.)

The observation deck is accessed from the lower level of the Dubai Mall near the food court.

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About Jennifer Dombrowski

Jennifer Dombrowski is an independent travel publisher and an American expat who has lived in Bordeaux, France since 2016. She previously lived in Northern Italy in a small village near Venice for seven years where she fell in love with wine and wine tourism. She is an award-winning travel writer. She is also a travel correspondent on Traveling on the American Forces Radio Network. Luxe Adventure Traveler was named one of the top travel blogs to watch by the Huffington Post and TripAdvisor, and has been featured by top publications such as National Geographic, CNN, Buzzfeed, and Business Insider. Jennifer's photography has also been featured on publications such as USA Today and Travel + Leisure and on the Travel Channel.

Some of the records are… unnecessary. Most are. They could add, “the highest window frame in the world,” “The highest carpeted surface in the world.” But, actually… they are wrong, based on perspective. They can only say tallest, not highest. Highest is likely a shack on Mt. Everest. Tall implies “from the ground” and high implies altitude. And even then…. the highest floor could be the floor of the highest flying let. It is man-made and is a floor. Or the International Space Station? Highest occupied floor.

I think we must have said what a sheer genius The Sheik is to have the insight to build up this empire out of almost nothing in the desert countless times. Amongst the buildings you can quickly forget you are in the middle of the desert and even in the Middle East. Dubai truly is an amazing place.

Technology actually came from the very first buildings (pirámids)that still standing and a lot of those buildings nobody knows how they figure it out…….like observatories, and many jewels made by Egyptians, Aztecs. Olmecs. Incas……etc etc

Yes, the source is the Burj Khalifa themselves. When you visit, panels go through a video display of 30 or so facts about the construction, features and various records the building holds. We took photos of the various facts we thought were most interesting from the presentation. This is one of them.

I think I took one of the exact same pictures that you did! It was really interesting to get a view from so high up. We were (maturely) thrilled to think of using the world’s highest toilets but the line in the ladies’ room was too long to be worth the claim to fame! Did you see the funny pictures they do of people climbing, falling off, etc? Those were tempting but way too expensive – clever though. Wonder if we were there around the same time – week of March 14th?

Hi guys! Did you know the Burj Khalifa is NOT the tallest building in the world? The tallest building in the world is Sky City In Changsha, China. In 7 months, the building will be complete and it will open in 2013, but, now it’s 2014 so that’s open now. The height of the Burj Khalifa is 828m., then, The height of the Sky City in Changsha China, is 838m. 10 m taller than Burj Khalifa. And Burj Khalifa has 163 floors, Then, Sky City has 220.
And the tallest constructing building NOW is the Kingdom Tower, 1,000 m tall, 3,280 ft, 200 floors, and the construction starts at the end of 2013. It will be completed on 2019. So 5/6 years to be built.
And the tallest planning building (actually it’s so big) Is X-seed 4000, 4,000 meters, 13,120 feet, 800 floors.
It is half height of the Mount Everest (the tallest mountain in the world), in Nepal and Tibet.
And the tallest anything is the Space Elevator in Indonesia. It will be completed in 2120, so I am already 114 years old when 2120, and now I am 7 years old. My birthday is Oct 25 2006.
And now, i forgot to say, X-Seed 4000 will be built in Tokyo, Japan.
And now, I forgot to say, the height of the Sky City in China (in feet) is 2,748.64. So thats all for now ., Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sky City was cancelled due to lack of design detail and doubts about its structural integrity. Many people think it’s actually a marketing ploy and was never intended to be completed. I think you will find similar information about the other buildings you listed

‘Laid end to end, it stretches over a quarter of the way around the world.’ How did you work that out? The circumference of the world is about 131479659 feet a quarter of that is 32869914.75 feet not 2,716.5 feet?

Forrest Walker, if you ever get to read this… and anyone else who’s sightseeing in Dubai: if you don’t already know, you can take Photospheres with your smartphone. Each manufacturer calls it something different. HTC Android phones=Panorama 360°, Samsung Android phones=Surround Shot, and Nexus Android phones have the Google Camera, and there’s one for the iPhone as well.
My Point? If any of you have ever put on a virtual reality headset, then looked all around at either a still or moving picture, using these 360° x 180° camera modes allows you to create a VR Photosphere of your own. You can then view these yourself or share with friends. There are many very inexpensive headsets for many Android phones, like the Google Cardboard, Samsung Oculus, Samsung Gear VR, and others.

Do a Google search to find out more about Photospheres, VR or Virtual Reality, and how they work.

Then start taking some beautiful Photospheres around Dubai (or anywhere worth capturing for that matter!)

OMG why do you people think middle eat people don’t use there brains… Most iranians are so rich that they can enrich every country they go. For example, UAE many iranians went there or Azerbaijan. Of course, sheiks are rich but they don’t make these structures. So don’t think west is very great. I bet only 10% of Americans have went to a good school.

hello jennifer,
great article.
burj khalifa is the world’s tallest building.there are 163 floors located above the ground of burj khalifa.
it’s initial name was burj dubai.it is located in dubai,united arab emirates.
It’s building has a specially designed elevator system for controlled evacuation in times of emergency situations like security threats or fire.
Once I want to visit to enjoy it’s beauty.
It is a must watch place.
Thank you,
Have a nice day.

I visited the Burj Khalifa today (Royal Wedding day at Windsor, UK!) and it was a truly amazing experience. Amongst all the world records etc etc there was a bird (a bit similar to a pigeon) alive and well but sitting in the far corner of the observation deck. How did it ever fly that high? It must be an Emirati bird that has claimed yet another world record!!
Pricey to go all the way up as far as possible, but well worth it if you are able to do it.

Meet Jennifer & Tim

We’re Jennifer and Tim. We’re professional travel writers and photographers who love adventure and wine, so we often try to combine the two. By day, you’ll find us out on some crazy adventure like snorkeling in Iceland in winter or on a long distance hut-to-hut hike in the Dolomites, but by night, we’re creatures of comfort. If you’re looking for a travel blog about a long-term around-the-world journey, how to travel on $50 a day or less or traveling with kids, Luxe Adventure Traveler isn’t it. Our award-winning travel blog is all about heart pumping adventures, world class accommodations and luxury experiences. Read more...

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